It Only Takes A Taste
by HecateA
Summary: Daphne's sister has been sick all summer and she needs to get out of the house. Luna, meanwhile, has the perfect sanctuary. Coffee Shop!AU. Oneshot.


**Author's Note: **Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

**Warnings: **Sick family member.

* * *

**Stacked with: **MC4A; Harmony of Souls Eternal; Hogwarts

**Individual Challenge(s): **Cuppa; Ravenclaw MC; Slytherin MC; 3rd Rule Bribery (HP Edition); Summer Vacation; Seeds; Ways to the Heart; Golden Times; Old Shoes; Coffee Life; Location, Location, Location; Themes & Things A (New Beginnings); Themes & Things B (Surprise); The 3rd Rule (Y); Ethnic & Present (Y); Rian-Russo Inversion (Y); Flags & Ribbons (Y); In a Flash

**Representation(s): **Coffee Shop AU;

**Bonus challenge(s):** NA

**Tertiary bonus challenge: **Schooner; Sanctuary

**Word Count: **1243

* * *

_**Shipping Wars**_

**Ship (Team): **Luna Lovegood/Daphne Greengrass

**List (Prompt): **Spring Medium 2 (Coffee Shop AU)

* * *

**It Only Takes a Taste **

_It only takes a taste when it's something special _

_It only takes a taste when you know it's good _

_Sometimes one bite is more than enough_

_To know you want more of the thing you just got a taste of._

-It Only Takes a Taste, Sara Bareilles in _Waitress _

Daphne tugged her backpack so that it sat on her shoulders properly and huffed, blowing her bangs away from her eyes. She looked to the left and then to the right, not sure where to go. All that she knew was that she couldn't stay in the house. The curtains were closed on account of Astoria's light sensitivity and migraines, and everybody was making an incredible effort to stay quiet too. The scratching of a quill on a piece of parchment felt like a cacophony, and Astoria had just fallen into proper sleep for the first time in what felt like days. Smoke from the herbs that Mum was burning seemed to get caught in Daphne's nose and throat, no matter how good and cleansing the family medicine books said they were supposed to be. No, Daphne had to get out. The fact that she had nowhere to go was secondary in the grand scheme of things.

She sighed and turned left as she started walking. Whichever Greengrass relative had first invested in property in downtown London had done their descendants a favour; it never took too long to find a place to sit, a place to pick up Muggle sweets, a place to grab a bite... But Daphne was dedicated to getting as far away as she could, and so she resolved to walk until something caught her eye. And the first shop that did was painted completely purple on the outside.

The window was painted, which hit Daphne as quite old-fashioned, but with fantastical creatures that she… well, that she recognized from _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, _to be honest. It was quite an unsettling sight in Muggle London. The chalkboard in front of the shop advertised that: _A cup of tea cures the heart, and sometimes that's enough _as well as _hullo we have wee-fee now! _

She rolled her eyes, but when she looked inside the shop the eclectically mismatched and uncoordinated coloured furniture held a certain appeal and charm. There were fairy lights strung along inside and the pastry counter in the back seemed quite handsomely filled. Daphne backed up, stepping off the sidewalk and onto the road, to read the sign posted above the shop. "The Quibbler," it was called.

She chewed her lip before stepping inside.

It was even more chaotic than she had thought from the outside. The walls were covered in framed newspaper clippings and Muggle movie posters about monsters, and there were splats of paint thrown about willy-nilly. The carpet on the floor was orange, shaggy, and fit Daphne's definition of a living nightmare. The carpet very well might be alive, from what Daphne could gather. There were chimes that sounded when the door opened. _Chimes. _

But the coffee smelled so strong and the pastry smelled so good that Daphne let the door close behind her.

A blonde girl behind the counter put down a book she was reading and tilted her head to the side in recognition. Her hair was swept over her shoulder in a ponytail and she was wearing a sky blue apron with actual little white clouds drawn on. No, scratch that, they were patches _sewn _on. By hand. With red thread.

"Hullo, welcome to The Quibbler_," _the girl said. Then she smiled pleasantly. "Oh, I know you! You're Astoria's sister. She's in my year."

"I…" Daphne had to take a moment. "Oh, you're Luna Lovegood, that's your name."

"Right," Luna smiled. "I didn't know your family lived in London."

"I didn't know yours did," Daphne shot back.

"Daddy and I just moved," Luna said. She gestured vaguely to the shop they were in, as if this was the reason. Daphne vaguely remembered something about some crackpot magazine being run by the Lovegoods. She wondered what had happened to that—but didn't have to wonder long before Luna picked up again.

"This is Daddy's new idea," she said. "He thinks that instead of just _giving _people ideas we should give them a place to share them. We're open to Muggles in the day, Wizards in the evenings for special events."

"That's… interesting," Daphne said politely.

"It's been a fun summer," Luna said. "I'm in charge of pastries. How has yours been?"

Daphne swallowed hard.

"What kind of pastry? It smells quite nice," she said.

Luna nodded solemnly, as if registering and processing Daphne's forced change of conversation.

"Daddy let's me do whatever I want, really. As long as there's cream puffs—those are his favourite," Luna said, moving from behind the cash register to behind the counter. As if they were tethered, Daphne approached and looked inside. Sure enough, the pastries behind the glass looked…

"Beautiful," Daphne whispered. "Some of them don't even look like pastries."

"Those are the funnest ones to make!" Luna said eagerly. Daphne focused on one that looked like a lightbug.

"That's a cinnamon palmier," Luna smiled. "I used a caramel éclair on top to make the body, fondant for the antennas, and a dollop of cream for the light. When it's wizards only for the poetry reading tonight, I think I might cast a glowing charm on it too…"

"You've never tried that before?" Daphne asked.

"No," Luna said. "I've just made these for the first time this morning."

"This morning?" Daphne gasped. "My goodness, it's… it's beautiful. What about this one?"

"Oh that," Luna said. "Those are little madeleines, I've just used food colouring to make them look more like seashells and the pearls are made of white chocolate, airbrushed to look shiny…"

Daphne understood very few of those words, but she quite liked looking over the pastries and having Luna explain the various creations and flavour profiles.

"And you just make all of these?" Daphne asked.

Luna nodded. "It's important to make time for nice things, even if most people can't."

Daphne nodded, and as she mulled over the pastry chef's words a man with a wild mane of white hair, not unlike cotton floss or the puffy clouds on Luna's apron, poked his head out of the back. He greeted Daphne politely before reminding Luna that her lunch break was coming up. He disappeared again.

Luna picked up a pair of tongs and reached into the pastry shelves to retrieve a pain au chocolat that she put on a plate, so delicately that the pastry didn't crumble. She turned around and tinkered for a few minutes before coming back to offer Daphne a latte topped by beautiful, flowery art.

She presented both offerings to Daphne.

"You can take a table and stay here a while, you know," Luna said. "That's what coffee shops are for. I'd be happy to share the fun bits of my summer with you."

Daphne wasn't sure what to say.

"I don't have Muggle money with me," she explained.

Luna shrugged, and reached behind her back to untie the apron.

"That's okay," she said. "Just take a second to have something nice. If you like my food, that's enough for me."

And just as surprisingly as she'd appeared in Muggle London, Luna hung her apron and disappeared into the back kitchen.

And by Merlin, did Daphne ever savour it.


End file.
